Richard Mountbatten - Spell of the Beast

"Lousy!"

"Is your head still hurting as bad as it was…?"

"Worse…! It keeps pounding away… like it's going to tear my ears off!" he complained.

Joan looked at his drawn face, his eyes haggard and burning in his ashen face. She knew that he suffered, and that a measure of relief, in the form of pain-relieving pills was available a few paces away.

Dear God! I'm faced with a dilemma that's almost unsolvable! And… I don't know what way to turn… It's tearing me up… inside, to see Jimmy in such pain… I feel like I have to do something to help him… give him some relief… But, Buzz controls the medicines… and food… and everything! He's made clear what he wants… Me! He wants to m-make l-love… to me… in exchange for the codeine tablets! He's putting it on a primitive barter basis! Oh, dear Lord… What am I to do…?

With a long, drawn-out groan, her husband's body shuddered and he lapsed, again, into unconsciousness.

She leaned over him. "Jim! Oh, Jim? Oh, my God… My darling!" she sobbed.

Her heart went out to him. She loved her husband with all of her heart and soul; her whole life revolved around him. It had never occurred to her before that she could ever lose him. Now, the morbid thought of impending death… her husband's death… Jim, her Jim, hung over her, paralyzing her with fear.

The words of the wedding vow knifed through her. Yes! God, yes! She would cling to him! He was hurt… in pain! He needed her, now, in his time of suffering! All she had been able to do for him, up to this point, was make him comfortable, dress his wound and feed him. Now, she had discovered she could do more; a drug was available to ease his pain. In her frantic mind, the acquisition of the pain-reliever was of foremost importance.

Jim! Oh, Jimmy! I love you so terribly much! I'd do anything for you! But, the horrible bargain I'll have to make… just to get those pills! Ugh! Let another man… make love to me… violate my body… My body that's pledged only to my husband! And… violate the wedding vows… break the commandment! Oh, dear God! I need help! I can't make a decision like this! It's too enormous… too frightening… to think that I'd be forced to break the laws of man… and God! I can't do it… I just can't do it! Everything's out of balance!

Suddenly, Jim began to mumble. "God! Look out! Going in…! Hang on! Joan! Joan! Jooaan!" Then, a horrible groan escaped his lips, the sound of it stabbed like a searing spike being driven into her brain.

Dear God! Would I be guilty… of a greater sin… if I let him suffer… and did nothing to help? It would be inhuman… barbaric! I'm still a human being who cares… who loves deeply! I've always heard… there are some things that money can't buy! Buzz said I had only one negotiable currency… my body! Out here… in this wilderness… values are changed… different, but my love for Jimmy hasn't changed! In this insane, distorted value system… of barter… that Buzz insists we follow… I don't have much choice… No choice in fact! I can do nothing… and let Jim suffer… or I can give in to Buzz… and get the pills… to help relieve has pain! It's as simple as that…! And, all I've been taught about morality has to be thrown out the window! Oh, I'm so confused! What can I do…? Oh, God… what shall I do? I need help! Help me now… please… Oh, please…

Thinking she must do something… anything, she rose, went to the cooking area, selected a small aluminum pan and walked down to the gurgling little stream of ice-cold water; at least, she told herself, she could bathe Jim's face with the cold water, hoping that what little comfort it afforded would ease him, perhaps help to lower his temperature.

Buzz Henson watched her; he knew that she was troubled, the burden of his unorthodox bargain weighing heavily upon her. He wanted a drink from the stream, anyway, so he walked to where she knelt filling the pan with the crystal clear water.

He stood behind her, his eyes raking her luscious body, hungrily, noting the milky-white skin revealed between the waistband of her shorts and the square cut tail of her blouse, the vertebrae marching up her back, higher, the ridges of her ribs curving softly and, below, the nipping curve of her waist flaring into the provocative curve of her hips; her globoid buttocks wagged in the air back at him, as she dipped the water then sat back on her heels. He had a sudden vision of those same buttocks, bare, shoving back at him as his hardened maleness plunged into the coral moistness of her widespread pussy. God! His penis jerked erect, throbbingly, reminding him how long it had been since he'd had a good, satisfying sexual encounter. Damn! She's absolutely beautiful! I don't know when I've wanted any woman more than I want her… right now!

Joan was aware, now, that he stood there, behind her. She had to remain calm, cool… distant; this man must not be allowed to get inside her defenses. Getting to her feet, she turned and faced him. His arrogant blue eyes smiled lewdly down into her own green-hued orbs. The revulsion in her as she saw his lust, caused her to step around him without a word. He caught her elbow and swung her back to face him.

"Not so fast… Joan! We have some unfinished business!"

"No! No… we don't, Mr. Henson! There's nothing for us… to discuss!" she flared.

Buzz lounged back, relaxed, his tone conversational as he gave her directions.

"Up on top of that little ridge… to the north, there's a big oak tree… and a beautiful view… After lunch… say about one-thirty… I'm going to be there, by that big oak! If you change your mind… come up and join me there! All you have to do is follow the stream up about two hundred yards where there's a little waterfall… then up the east slope. It's not hard to find… if you want to…"

"If you'll be so kind as to release me… I'll go back and… attend to the needs of my husband!"

"You're a stuck-up little bitch… aren't you? Is that the Vassar treatment you're giving me… Or is it Bryn Mawr…?"

"You're vulgar… and insulting!" Joan snapped.

"I'm real… real and realistic! I don't need that veneer of good manners to get what I want!"

"Perhaps so, Mr. Henson… but those schools don't have an exclusive on those things! I went to an equally good school in the Midwest… One you wouldn't recognize, if I told you the name. If you'll excuse me… please?"

The tall, tanned pilot grinned at her and released his grasp on her elbow.

"I'll be waiting!" he said with supreme confidence.

Joan stepped around him and made her way back to the shelter. Jim was still unconscious; however, as she began to bathe his face in the icy water, he opened his eyes and looked at her, pain grimaced and contorted his face. He groaned.

"Oh, my poor darling!" she soothed, leaning down to kiss him on the lips. "I'm doing all I can to make it better!"

Even as she said it, she knew it was not true. There was one thing she had not done! In that flashing instant she made her decision.

According to the plan of action outlined to them by Buzz Henson, soon after the crash, it was her turn to prepare the noon meal beginning at 11:30. She went about her duties, using the food that Buzz rationed; additionally, there was a fat squirrel Buzz had killed and dressed out. He gave it to her with instructions to make a stew of it. She obeyed him; his will had been imposed upon them all in matters of their survival.

She reflected upon the fast pace of events. Before the crash Andrew Sloan, Jim's immediate boss in the architectural firm of Sloan, Kitchen and Wilson, had been in complete command of everything, having organized their entire vacation trip and confidently arranging the details of their entire existence from the time they had begun to get ready for it. After the plane had crunched into the glade where they were now trapped, Andy Sloan had seemed to come apart at the seams. His orders were uncertain, his decisions unsound, and on the second day, Buzz had quietly, confidently, asserted his authority over them, deposing the older man from his position of leadership. Andy, when he realized what had happened, that his role had been usurped, had verbally castigated Buzz Henson, ranting and raving and making ludicrous threats concerning the dire punishments facing Buzz for getting them all into this damned mess. Buzz had listened, but brought the monologue to an end when the older man began repeating himself.